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I recently made a new tag called which seems to work fine, but out of curiosity, what's the community's view on it?

Used when the tagged puzzle is open ended to all solvers and could be "bested" at any point, if a given solver has a better solution that fulfills the askers requirements.

I'd especially like to hear from active members and moderators!

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  • $\begingroup$ The laser puzzle seems really out of place there... $\endgroup$
    – Sp3000
    Commented Dec 21, 2014 at 17:08
  • $\begingroup$ @Sp3000 perhaps it is... $\endgroup$
    – warspyking
    Commented Dec 21, 2014 at 17:19
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    $\begingroup$ I don't see anything wrong with the genre itself (as long as questions are still of high quality, of course), but the tag seems to be somewhat of a meta tag. It doesn't describe the content of the question; it describes the question itself. $\endgroup$
    – Doorknob Mod
    Commented Dec 21, 2014 at 17:46
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    $\begingroup$ @Doorknob冰 I'm very glad to see that moderators saying "I don't see anything wrong with the genre itself (as long as questions are still of high quality, of course)" is acceptable. I've been asking you three to make such a statement about challenge questions (and particularly riddles) for DAYS, but keep getting replies like 'it wouldn't be appropriate' or 'that's for the community to decide, not the moderators'. Thank you for setting a precedent! :-) $\endgroup$
    – Rand al'Thor
    Commented Dec 21, 2014 at 18:09
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    $\begingroup$ @randal'thor "I'm personally content with challenges on Puzzling" by Emrakul almost a week ago. $\endgroup$
    – Kevin Mod
    Commented Dec 21, 2014 at 18:45
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    $\begingroup$ I'm a little more skeptical than doorknob about the acceptability of truly open-ended questions. But I don't think all those questions currently tagged with open-ended are truly open-ended. $\endgroup$
    – Kevin Mod
    Commented Dec 21, 2014 at 18:55
  • $\begingroup$ @Kevin Just because I tagged them don't make them any less of an example. Just look at the description. $\endgroup$
    – warspyking
    Commented Dec 21, 2014 at 19:10
  • $\begingroup$ @warspyking The implication was that there are questions matching your use of the tag that are lower quality but not tagged. $\endgroup$
    – Kevin Mod
    Commented Dec 21, 2014 at 19:11
  • $\begingroup$ @Kevin I only picked recent ones, I didn't have time to go back to the beginning if the site or anything... $\endgroup$
    – warspyking
    Commented Dec 21, 2014 at 19:17
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    $\begingroup$ @Kevin - That was Emrakul. What about you and Doorknob? $\endgroup$
    – Rand al'Thor
    Commented Dec 21, 2014 at 19:49

2 Answers 2

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Actually, I originally posted this comment:

I don't see anything wrong with the genre itself (as long as questions are still of high quality, of course), but the tag seems to be somewhat of a meta tag. It doesn't describe the content of the question; it describes the question itself.

After your edit, though, you've added this definition:

Used when the tagged puzzle is open ended to all solvers and could be "bested" at any point, if a given solver has a better solution that fulfills the askers requirements.

In that case, what's the point of even having the tag in the first place? Shouldn't it be applied to all questions on the site? Why would you not accept a better answer? (Let's put aside the fact that it's most certainly a meta tag at this point, which is grounds for burnination.)

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  • $\begingroup$ the idea is that it's open for a competition to find the best answer. $\endgroup$
    – warspyking
    Commented Dec 22, 2014 at 1:30
  • $\begingroup$ @warspyking As opposed to "I don't want any more answers even if they're better so go away"? $\endgroup$
    – Doorknob Mod
    Commented Dec 22, 2014 at 2:45
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    $\begingroup$ I mean that the idea is for the solvers to compete to find better and better answers, other than "that question has an answer and it's really good, why waste time solving again?" The tag tells people, the real puzzle, is beating another's answer. $\endgroup$
    – warspyking
    Commented Dec 22, 2014 at 3:22
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    $\begingroup$ I think a better way to express it is that it's not a puzzle that becomes "solved" -- you just find the best-scoring answer you can. $\endgroup$
    – xnor
    Commented Dec 22, 2014 at 4:19
  • $\begingroup$ @xnor Yea, like that. $\endgroup$
    – warspyking
    Commented Dec 22, 2014 at 5:20
  • $\begingroup$ Isn't "riddle" a meta-tag too? $\endgroup$
    – warspyking
    Commented Dec 22, 2014 at 5:49
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    $\begingroup$ @warspyking riddle describes the content of the question, rather than some meta-level aspect about the question itself. As a result, it isn't a meta-tag. The important post to read is here $\endgroup$
    – user20
    Commented Dec 22, 2014 at 6:43
  • $\begingroup$ @Emrakul doesn't "riddle" describe that it's a riddle, describing the question, not the content..? $\endgroup$
    – warspyking
    Commented Dec 23, 2014 at 20:44
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Just some random thoughts: I think that the open-ended tag is useless for ordinary puzzles for the reasons given by Doorknob (hence my UP vote for his answer). However, I think it has (limited) use for puzzles like the laser puzzle, where the open-ended-ness is not given by the fact that a 'better' answer can be found, but that each answer creates a new puzzle.

But I do have a big problem with this tag: The laser puzzle is the single one puzzle where I find it appropriate, and I'm not sure we would like to invite more puzzles of that kind.

This is not in anyway a down-valuing of the laser puzzle itself (I was the first to pick it up to get it rolling.), but it seemed to be or become more a game than a puzzle, and I really think this might be the point where we draw the line between "good for (Puzzling) SE" and "not suitable for (Puzzling) SE" - simply because the very nature of it contradicts the way this site has been build.

Personally, I think we should kill the tag to avoid inviting these type of questions. ( I think the laser puzzle could have fit better as either a request to create the most-interesting/difficult puzzle with the tool, or as presenting one or two very interesting puzzles with it. Both would have given it a permanent touch with the possibility to "accept & close" it. (Not as in VTC but as in closed=finished).

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